WinCo grocery chain revises plan for Coeur d' Alene store

Boise-based discount grocery chain WinCo Foods LLC is putting its long planned Coeur d'Alene store back on the front burner, says Mike Read, a spokesman for the company.

The company is scheduled to meet today, Dec. 20, with the city's design review commission for a preliminary planning discussion for a proposed 71,000-square-foot retail building at the northeast corner of Ramsey Road and Appleway Avenue, just north of Interstate 90.

"We're trying to move it along," Read says. "A number of approvals and other things have to be cleared."

Read says no contractor has been selected yet to build the store. CTA Architects, of Boise, is designing it.

WinCo acquired 9 acres of vacant land at a former gravel pit site in 2009. The company originally approached the city with preliminary plans to erect a commercial structure with roughly 95,000 square feet of floor space, but shortly thereafter put those plans on hold.

Most WinCo stores have more than 90,000 square feet of floor space, but the company has been experimenting with smaller store sizes, Read says. Its stores typically employ 170 to 200 people, he says.

WinCo operates 86 stores in seven states, including two Spokane-area stores. The stores here, which it opened in 2009, are located on the North Side, at 9245 N. Nevada, and in Spokane Valley, at 9718 E. Sprague.

Mike McLean

Reporter Mike McLean covers real estate and construction at the Journal of Business. A multipurpose fisherman and vintage record album aficionado, Mike has worked for the Journal since 2006.